Sloppy Kisses

At some point you have to grow up and do dirty things.

In my case, it involves being the recipient of Mikayla's wide mouth kisses.

There is undeniable joy in your baby learning how to give you kisses. I am not immune to asking for slurpy kiss after kiss simply because it is proof that she's interacting with me.

But, when you have a baby that is also cutting three teeth at once with a snotty nose thrown in, that sweet open-mouthed kiss can be a little daunting.

I do it anyway. And wipe my entire mouth after each dear little smack.

I'm a grown up. I'm a mom. I'm not afeared of nutin'.

Since I'm talking about the strangeness of enjoying snotty kisses, I guess I should also admit that we're going a little beyond ordinary with Mia's school this semester. We're straddling the fence and homeschooling in addition to a much shorter day of Pre-K at our public school.

So far it's been an absolutely wonderful experience for us. I'm in love with the homeschooling community that we are working with. The way they educate is very logical to us and coincides with the conversations Isaiah and I have had about what we feel education should be and accomplish since before we even had children. So it's really exciting!

I have mocked homeschoolers in the past and sworn up and down that we will never do that but here we are! This afternoon I experienced my first homeschool/non-home school showdown.

I had met another mom at the park for a playdate. My friend is a dedicated homeschool mom who has never had her kids in public school. We made friends with another mom who was a dedicated private school mom.

When the private school mom found out my friend was homeschooling she immediately changed her conversation direction and started saying that she wished she could homeschool but she just couldn't be the best teacher to her sons.

The change of direction was so obvious it made me think of how people used to changed their attitudes immediately when I told them that I was married to a youth pastor. It's a visible switch that I am constantly amazed to see. I wish people would just be themselves!

My friend responded politely that homeschooling just worked best for her family. Our conversation moved on, but after our private school friend left my homeschool friend then talked about how frustrated she is when she hears about other school policies or the many, many times she hears the same explanations for why people aren't homeschooling.

It was just an interesting interaction and I wonder how much I'll be seeing in the years to come? Fascinating.

That's all from here. Love and sloppy kisses to you!